:miniaturediamonds:

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T11:07:00.001-08:00

twenty twelve ~ week one

2012-01-30T02:07:00.000-08:00

Started the year with a spa day in the lake district, absolute bliss and the baby loved it too, so much kicking!

Year in Review

2012-01-30T00:47:00.000-08:00

I'm behind.

I knew it would happen.

I'd go on holiday, come back, hit the ground running and play catch up for weeks.

Well, that's kind of what happened.

So for now, here is my year in review...

It was really hard to just choose a couple of photos to represent each month! It was such a mammoth year, not one of my favourites but definitely one I'll remember.

Goodbye 2011!

JYC 27

2011-12-28T11:05:00.001-08:00

Sleep! We're on holiday and this is the bed at the hotel...

...even bigger than our bed at home which is great as Adam has been sleep walking a lot recently!

posted from Bloggeroid

JYC day 26

2011-12-27T02:36:00.001-08:00

Boxing Day picnic breakfast with Josh and Siming and an evening round the fire at the McPhees in Bath...boxing day bliss I think!

Happy Christmas Blogland

2011-12-25T08:05:00.001-08:00

Journal Your Christmas Day 25!

Dinner for 2, open stockings, Jesus birthday party at Church...

...followed by a nap and family skyping, it's all good!

Happy Christmas to all, hope you're having a lovely day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

23 & 24 jyc

2011-12-25T01:35:00.001-08:00

Day 23

-Having already talked about stockings I'm just doing a 'this is what we did today' kind of post...Lydia came to visit, collected her from Waterloo as it was her first solo journey! Took her to the V&A which she loved and found lots of useful things for her coursework so that was good. We ate bens cookies, walked along the southbank and had a lovely time, then came home to watch Christmas movies and eat lunch!

Day 24

Mum, Dad & MH came to visit for the day which was lovely, we exchanged presents and had lunch with crackers...

...then we went to the Christmas Eve Christingle service at Church. This is the Christingle we built on stage, everyone wrote their prayers on an orange handprint and came and stuck them up. The theme was the line from o little town of Bethlehem - "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you tonight" so all 550 people wrote down their hopes and fears to give to God. Then the magical moment happened where all the lights are turned off and the candles are lit, just beautiful!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone x

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JYC day 20, 21 and 22

2011-12-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

JYC 20 -

Tales of the unexpected...

A couple of years ago we went to a pub that all my in-laws had lovely memories of. Apparently it was decorated beautifully christmassy and had a number of open fires. However the year in question we walked in and it was freezing, they would light the candle because it wasn't passed 7pm when we arrived! There were some very tacky tinselly decs hanging limply in some windows and a sparce looking tree in the foyer. Hmmmm, certainly not what we expected. Mother in law was horrified. We upped and left and drove to another more reliable venue for our Christmas dinner.

JYC 21 - Right now, White Christmas Festival at the Royal Albert Hall...

JYC 22 - list

Buy Christmas Dinner at M&S
Wrap Adams present
Print off holiday booking details
Buy Josh and Siming presents
Print photos
Tidy spare room
Pack for holiday

JYC weekend catch up...

2011-12-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

Day 17

The perfect gift -

This was the title of my talk for the Northside School Assembly. I had 5 presents under the tree and we were on a quest to find the perfect gift. After socks, chocolate, a bike and an iphone someone unwrapped this picture...

...and I talked about Jesus being the perfect gift for every situation. There's nothing in life he isn't perfect for. Anyone sad, hurting or broken, anyone lost, bored or confused, anyone happy, excited or fulfilled...he fits into every part of life. Thanks God, Jesus was a great gift to the world!

I'm also going to do a page about Adam's perfect gift from childhood, his yellow and red car! Got a cute picture of him age 2 and beaming sat in it, super cute!

Day 18

Dinner -

Adam's favourite part of the day. Always has been. Always will be. Think we'll cook together this year, something that's usually banned in our kitchen because cooking at the same time is not good for our marriage(!) however it'll mainly be M&S bits so I think we'll manage to share. As long as I hold my tongue!

Also today...

...This is me dressed up as Mary with my colleague Colin the vicar dressed as a shepherd! We hosted the nativity service at St B's! It was so much fun but absolutely exhausting!

And finally -

Day 19

Letters to santa -

Having never been introduced to santa I can't say I ever wrote a letter to him but Adam did and posted it in Safeways apparently! Will let him do the journalling for this page I think!

Hope you all had a lovely festive weekend!

Jyc 16

2011-12-17T01:40:00.001-08:00

I am thankful for you...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

JYC Day 15

2011-12-16T00:52:00.000-08:00

Visitors...

This year is different. This year if people want to see us they have to come and visit! Simple as. Bit selfish probably but seriously lovely not to be driving around constantly! The one exception is going to Bath on Boxing Day to see the McPhees. Otherwise we've had S&P up last weekend, Sara's coming again on 20-22nd Dec, Lydia's arriving on the 23rd and the rest of the Grants are coming on Christmas Eve!

JYC Day 14

2011-12-15T04:44:00.000-08:00

To-do list

It's not too long thankfully, the main thing I still have to do is get everything done at work...

-Northside School Carol Service
-Barneys Toddler group nativity
-Nativity Service Rehearsal
-Family Craft Morning
-Nativity Service
-Strawberry Vale Carols and Christingle
-Carols by Candlelight
-Christingle Rehearsal
-Christmas Morning Rehearsal
-Christingle Service
-Jesus Birthday Party Service

Then HOLIDAY!!! hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

JYC Day 13

2011-12-13T09:58:00.001-08:00

Music!

We've been listening to a lot of Buble this year, such a classic album. Perfect with Christmas tree lights on, cinnamon candle burning, warm mince pie and a blanket. Ahhhh Christmas bliss!

JYC Day 12

2011-12-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

The ghost of Christmas Past -

This is the story of a boy named Adam and a girl named Hannah, when they were small they loved Christmas as every little child should have the chance to do. They enjoyed getting ready, making things, going to parties, their separate family traditions and everything that made the festive season exciting to them. Hannah with her family and Adam with his, they never even knew about the other until 2005. That Christmas in 2005 they sent each other a text on Christmas Day, Adam didn't send it until 7pm at night which Hannah thought was a bit late in the day. They'd been texting each other every day for about 2 months now and they had unwritten rules that stated one of them would not be the first to text every day. So having text him on Christmas Eve, Hannah waited and waited to get that text she was longing for. To know he'd been thinking about her on the 25th December and so make her Christmas Day complete. The moment came when his text arrived and her face lit up as she quickly replied and felt happy that he must truly like her to include her in his Christmas Day. The following year they had grown closer and the next year closer still, until in 2007 two days before Christmas Adam whisked Hannah off to the London, climbing to the top of the London Eye and getting down on one knee to declare he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Hannah. With her engagement ring on, they reached the bottom and wandered along the Thames looking at all the blue Christmas lights. Having been overcome with the moment, Hannah although mouthing the word 'yes' to Adam's all important question, had never imagined being so quiet when the day came that Adam would ask her to marry him. So, cheekily, they boarded the merry-go-round on the Southbank and she asked him to say it again, so that this time her 'yes' could be louder. Having successfully proposed twice in one night they left London and headed home to tell their story to happy families.

JYC 11

2011-12-10T23:40:00.001-08:00

Oh Christmas Tree oh Christmas Tree...

This is our little tree all dressed up for the season! I made bunting this year using a bit of bond a web and my hair straighteners! Looks rather pretty now if I do say so myself. Adam put the lights on and I added all my red and white bits and bobs, might even make some decs out of saltdough if I get round to it. I should of course mention that this is the second attempt at decorating the tree this year, last weekend the grants were here and we started decorating it with them, almost finished when Dad knocked it over!

I used to love the smell of real Christmas trees and the grand look of a real tree in our living room. Sadly Adam's allergies will mean we're stuck with a bendy fake wire one!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

JYC 10

2011-12-10T00:11:00.001-08:00

I do love wrapping paper! Every year I have a theme and then wrap all my presents with the same paper/accessory/ribbon combo. This year: carol manuscript and red wool.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

JYC day 9

2011-12-09T00:29:00.001-08:00

Traditions...

One tradition I want to make sure we have in our family is watching a Christmas film on Christmas Day.

When Adam was little they used to always go to the cinema on Christmas Eve and watch Santa Clause on Christmas Day...and watching miracle on 34th street was a grant house tradition a some point over christmas.

The first year we were married we snuggled up together and watched the Polar express, it was lovely and provided some much needed rest. So this is something I'd like to do every year, pick a movie, put our feet up, snuggle under a blanket and relax.

Establishing a tradition...I wonder if it'll catch on?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

JYC Day 8 photos

2011-12-08T13:23:00.001-08:00

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas...

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JYC Day 7

2011-12-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Giving and receiving:

I love to give and receive gifts, gifts are my thing. Gifts are my love language, any time I want to say thank you or sorry or I love you...I like to give something. This year the budget is tight because we've spent it all on a Centerparcs holiday with the Bailey side of the family in January, so the presents are small. I think I'm ok with that, much as I'd love to buy everyone lots of gifts, quality time is good too so we'll just invest a lot when we're with people this Christmas and say 'I love you' in another way. Plus people like chocolates, not to worry if they don't last long.

Adam and I are just filling stockings for each other with sweets and little bits. We made our stockings for each other the first year we were married. I like that it can be a new tradition and when we've been married 60 years we'll still have the stockings we made for each other in 2008. That'll be a good story to tell.

The other tale of Christmas...

2011-12-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

A typical Christmas is the Bailey side of the family:

We used to wake up early but never very early. I remember waking up in the night to stare over at the airing cupboard where our stockings would be hanging, I think I may have even got up a few times to go and have a prod to see if they'd been filled. When we woke up we would run into Mum and Mark's room to see if we were allowed to bring our stockings in. I remember thinking, quick find the orange because it's the least exciting thing in there and I wanted to get it over and done with. We'd open most of our stocking presents on Mum and Mark's bed, I would make a neat pile with my new things. Then sometimes we'd have breakfast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, in bed and then go downstairs before being allowed to open 1 or 2 presents from under the tree.

There would be the customary dog present. Which with Charlie would involve Mark trying to get the dog to open it himself but actually he would just open it until the dog could see the toy. Then we'd dress smartly and Grannie and Grandad would come round before we headed off to Church. Church was only 45 minutes and we lived 2 minutes walk away from Church. Then we'd come home and open presents, I would hate opening the presents from Mark's family - always a lynx gift set, and from Zoe (my Dad's Mum) a floral diary, to be honest I'd rather have had another orange.

My favourite part of the day was always dinner. Still is. I think we usually had dinner either at our house or at Grannie and Grandad's. It was the only time in the year that we got pigs in blankets and gravy that wasn't like water because that duty would have been taken away from Mark!

For many years in a row we watched 'The Santa Clause' Tim Allen film. Then we'd have a very chilled out rest of the day, putting together whatever toys and games we'd been given that year and eating after eights. As we got a bit older and Mark left, we started to go out for dinner more, once to the Gurka in town and I remember going to the Pulpit with it's wonderful gravy. When I started dating Hannah I remember the year of 2 Christmas dinners, I drove from Weymouth to Poole to be with her and her family but back home to have dinner with mine too.

My favourite Christmases of all have been the one's we've had on our own in London. Little bit of working but time to just be together.

By Adam, Hannah's husband.

(I'm shocked he did this, he's so good to me!!)

Document 2011

2011-12-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

I interrupt these festive broadcasts to bring you some scrapbooking...in the form of Document 2011!

This is the only scrapbooking I've done all year, which in some ways I like because it doesn't feel overboard. For example I don't have 3 AC 12x12 folders full of LOs from this year I have one more sensible album with the things worth documenting. However because I've scrapbooked less I can remember less of what we've done and that seems like a bit of a shame.

Anyhow, here's a run-through of the year -

January - Centerparcs for the MILs 50th, ice skating at the National History Museum, a night at Shendish Manor.
February - a lovely long walk along the jurassic coast, my birthday, half term family time and drink shop do.
March - Meeting Grannie and Grandad in Winchester, a week in Cornwall, National Trust visit, forest walk.
April - Easter holidays arrived, staying with the Grants, Royal Wedding, Sara and Jess visit London for the day.
May - MH's birthday, carvanning in Swanage to get away after the miscarriage, a day out of London from cream tea.
June - Swanage, living with David and Anne, seeing Hattie, going to Aqua Sana, weekend in Swindon.
July - BBQ in Weymouth, Centerparcs with the Grants, Isaac and Rachel came to stay, positive pregnancy test.
August - Weekend away in the Lythe Hill Hotel, Adam's birthday weekend and trip to railway children show, early scan.
September - Photo of our little baby bump emerging, pick your own farm, harvest assemblies, quick trip to the beach.
October - 12 week scan, half term in Dorset, last time we saw Grandad, Adam qualified as a paramedic.
November - Building the pram, enjoying baby prep, found out baby's a boy, changed our car, saw Strictly Come Dancing.

December is obviously still to come but will no doubt involve glitter, sparkles and a hint of holly.

I've enjoyed looking at everyone else's scrapping this year, think I'm getting worse while everyone else seems to have turned pro!!

JYC Day 6

2011-12-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

The tale of 2 Christmases.

A typical Christmas with the Grant Family:

Waking up far too early (so early in fact that for a few years we were assigned one present that we were allowed to open and play with alone until a more suitable time for waking Mum and Dad - like 6am!), we would grab our pillow cases at the end of our beds and run through to Mum and Dad's room taking up our positions at the end of the bed. We'd then gradually go through our presents making a nice pile of new things and showing everyone what we'd been given. Then we'd go down stairs where our present from Mum and Dad would be under the tree in the lounge. Usually we'd have to wait for dad to go in first so they he could film our reactions to the scene! Sometimes a bike hidden under a sheet with a bow, or Isaac's first drum Kit, similarly concealed I seem to recall. We could then play for a bit and gradually get ready and eat breakfast. I think we almost always had a new or at least posh outfit to wear on Christmas Day, we would all go off to Church and then head to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas Lunch.

All the cousins would gather in the lounge and then we'd go back upstairs for lunch around 2 big tables in the kitchen. Grandma's cooking was sooo good. Then for many years we'd go back into the lounge and Grandpa would appear dressed as Santa to give out presents from he and Grandma. Sadly I remember we used to spoil it by shouting "It's Grandpa!" Shame really we should have just gone along with it! The rest of Christmas afternoon would always involve a blustery walk on the beach come rain or shine, there were always a few drop-outs and a years went by the older kids got more and more moany about this annual piece of exercise. Then it was tradition for the Grants to head to the other side of the family to have a finger buffet and spend an hour or so with them at the White's house. Never as fun going there, and I don't think we did it for that many years but it was certainly a traditional part of the day for a chunk of my childhood.

As we got older and Grandma less able to cater for 18 people, we mixed things up a bit, lunch was at the McPhees in Bath or at our house in Alverton Avenue. We didn't always go and see Dad's side of the family but Nanny and Grandad started joining us for Christmas Lunch because the White's went on holiday. Then I started dating Adam and went to his house for lunch one year. It was so so odd not being with my family and you realise just how traditional you are and used to your own families way of doing things! Then Isaac met Rachel and went out to America for Christmases (one to propose I might add!)

Then I got married and moved to London and we've stayed up here for Christmas Day. Adam's worked the last 3 Christmases and I've spent time with the lovely Ireton family. So far the last 6 years I think Christmas has been far less typical and actually quite different every year! Once we have kids I'm sure we'll settle into a very traditional family routine again! Or maybe not...we'll have to wait and see!

I'm hoping my hubby will write an entry for my Christmas Journal of what a typical Christmas was like for him...again we'll have to wait and see!

JYC 5

2011-12-06T03:42:00.001-08:00

My Top 10 Advent Countdown of Traditions-

10. When I was little I thought it was the most exciting thing in the world, then when I was a teenager I think I had a bit of a Christmas lull, now I'm back to loving December!

9. I've always had an advent calendar, can't think of a year where I haven't had one.

8. When there were lots of us at home, we'd have 3 or 4 different calendars and get to open one on each day just to mix it up a bit. I seem to recall one really budget cutting year where we only had one to share between Me, Isaac and Lydia and only got to open a door once every 3 days!

7. Adam's advent calendar criteria involved chocolate. And only chocolate. As long as it was a chocolate advent calendar - he was happy.

6. This year, I found these great little advent calendar cards at phoenix card company and sent them to Morgan and Lydia. Morgan is so excited because she doesn't have to share it with anyone! I guess the Grants are having another economy drive and making the girls share!

5. I bought myself one too, it has a little character from the nativity behind each tiny door - not sure how they're going to string it out for 25 days but I'm intrigued to see how it unfolds!

4. Another advent tradition is the candle. Long candle with the numbers 1 - 25 printed all the way down. This would be on the family dining table every day and to 'stop arguments' someone would take a turn to light it and someone else would get to blow it out. Silly thing was that blowing it out caused many arguments in itself! "It's gone past the number!" "It's touching the next number!" "She just blew it out and it was my turn!" cried from the table every night. Then someone would put their finger in it and push the wax down to far, and so it always went on. Yet for some reason Mum always bought another one the following Christmas.

3. Adam's family had one too, but it turns out they were far less attentive to the candle's lifespan and often only lit 5 times over the advent period, forgetting about it's lit-ness and reaching Christmas Eve far too early!

2. More candles were also part of the Grant advent tradition, we'd make a wreath, either at Church or at home. In a foil tray with some oasis would stand 5 candles, proudly for a while and then limply as the oasis failed to support them for the duration, decorated with a liberal splattering of ever green leaves, spray painted fir-cones and berry like items. Then every Sunday we'd have a brief discussion about what the candle represented and count down the Sundays until we could light the white middle candle to celebrate Jesus' birth.

1. Counting down to Christmas is always fun, although gets earlier and earlier every year with shops getting their decorations in September!

JYC day 4

2011-12-05T00:48:00.001-08:00

Perfection:

I'm not really sure about this one. What would be the perfect Christmas? Adam not working (hurrah this year he finishes at 2am and then has a week off!), me not worn out (hoping working part-time will help this), seeing my family (will settle for Christmas Eve this year, very exciting!), everyone being healthy (we've had too many poorly people over Christmas as far as I'm concerned), Adam's Grandad still being with us (so glad he didn't die in December but this year without him will be hard), isaac and Rachel coming over (next year!), a bit of snow (not likely in England but possible), games (preferably new ones), twinkly Christmas lights (just what you need to feel Christmassy I think), some time just with Adam (essential), kids enjoying themselves (having always had little people around they really do make Christmas, the first year I spent with Adam's family when we were dating was so odd and to be honest a tad boring just with adults!)...all sorts really that would add to the perfect day.

But when I look at this big list o perfects I really don't need it all to be content and if we did have all that at once there would be so much pressure I'm not sure I could enjoy it. I guess perfect is keeping things simple with the one you love and enjoying every moment.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

JYC day 3

2011-12-03T01:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Cards.

It used to be a family tradition when I was younger that one day during October half term we would sit down and make a batch of Christmas cards. Every year there would be a different design and they'd all be pretty much the same. I can remember the year of the gold painted pasta trees, something with cotton wool and regular splatterings of glitter. These cards were always for members of the extended family who delighted in receiving some homemade marvel.

Now Mum struck gold with me, I loved this tradition, I loved to make cards, I took time over each one and enjoyed every minute...writing the insides too! My brother on the other hand, traumatic. Not a crafter by any means and after a few years of 'too-young-to-realise' came a few years of defiance and forcing him to at least put some glue on the card and eventually I think Mum gave up. Then Lydia came along, cute and creative but not nearly as into the detail, same with thank you cards, she'd do one or two but couldn't really be bothered! And now it's MHs turn to be Christmas Card maker, I don't think Mum does it in October half term, bit early for Christmassy things really and it would probably stress her out. However she does make Christmas cards. She doesn't stick to her given supplies and there's no point in trying to make her do what you think looks best. I tried it one year, gave her these cool little nativity scenes on fabric to use. But then she added a small piece of everything from ger craft box and you couldn't really make out it was a Christmas card anymore!! Makes me smile just thinking about the differences in all of us!

For a while, probably about 10 years actually, I continued my Mum's tradition of making Christmas Cards, I would stick to one design and make a batch. But in the last few years I just haven't had the same amount of time to invest in card making. So after one or two years of feeling a bit guilty I gave in and bought some boxes of cards - always nativity of course, just a little reminder to people that Christmas is well, Christmas.

I actually wrote all my Christmas Cards yesterday. Probably won't send them til next week but they're sorted now. The one thing I can't stand is when you get a card from someone that literally just says "Dear Hannah, love XXX" I just think what was the point, honestly. So I always like to write a brief message in cards just to make it worthwhile someone reading them. Only bought 20. Will probably only send 20 too, don't give cards to people I see everyday (a part from Adam) it just seems a bit silly! Much prefer to post them to rellys and old friends as a little catch up. I wonder what Christmas Card traditions I'll make for our kids?! No doubt something that'll make me smile in the future!

Ah nostalgia.

JYC day 2

2011-12-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

But not as frightful as last year. This time last year it had already been snowing for a few days. We'd been for a spa day on 30th Nov in Elveden Forest and there was already a light frosting of snow on the floor. So beautiful. This year has been much milder, October 1st it was 29.9oC which was a bit crazy. Anyway right now it's 5oC outside, this morning was in fact the first frost, Adam was delayed this morning scraping the ice off the car!

I love the snow. Very much hoping it gets colder over the next few weeks. I remember walking to Church in the snow for the nativity service and carol services, it was just magical! Don't use that word often but the snow deserves it, I love how it's padded and quiet. I love how the sky goes almost yellow. I love how it sparkles in the light. I love how it sounds under your feet. I love how it's clean and makes even grey London look wonderful!

So bring on the snow I say!

JYC manifesto

2011-12-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

In the past I've been so busy in the run up to Christmas that it's lost all it's excitement and enjoyment. Bizarrely working for a Church you'd think you wouldn't be able to loose the true meaning of Christmas and have the life sapped out of it, but oddly enough it all becomes so hectic that December is like one long tick list of events to get through with the odd wonderful moment thrown into the mix. I remember last year I was so tired by my 9th run through of the nativity that I called Jesus, Joseph. Embarrassing.

This year I would love for it to be different, this year I will focus on the good things, the arrival of Jesus, the joy of the traditions, the wonder of the season. I will make things and bake things, go places and see things, take photos and reflect. Breathe in and enjoy the special things that this year has to bring. I am so blessed to do a fabulous job, to spend so much time with children whipped up into a joyful Christmas frenzy, I just don't want to go through the motions, I want to absorb what's going on around me.

This year I will embrace Christmas. I will take it all in, not rush through it ticking things off, I will savour the season.

Sounds wonderful.

Journal Your Christmas 2011

2011-12-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Having not blogged for over half a year (woah time flies) I thought I'd try and resurrect it for a little Christmas cheer...but we'll see, it might be June before I post again!

I've been a class participant of Shimelle's JYC class for a few years now and never completed anything :( I've come close a few times and although I don't feel pressure to do something everyday for it to count as finished, my attempts have still been short of completion. But this year I'd love to be different, even if it's just a case of journalling on my blog and nothing particularly scrapbooky. However my aim is to have a little square album to pop on the coffee table come January 6th so here goes...

Day 1

This is the prompt for today -

I will believe in - the true meaning of Christmas.
I will be grateful for - the chance to make new traditions in our new flat.
I will always remember - the first and last Christmas together just Mr and Mrs Feery with Adam not working and pre-baby arrival.

Ok back tomorrow, I hope!

The Big Photography Post

2011-06-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Having seen Mel's fabulous photography I suddenly remembered I had gone on a photography trip too! And I was inspired by her gorgeous shots...so I though I'll post one or two of my pics...that didn't really happen so scroll fast people or you may get bored!

I was going to comment on each one but there are just too many! (Although can I just say...vintage suitcases...aaaaahhhh how lush!) Hope you like them as much as I do! So fun to have an actual photography outing in such a beautiful place. We must do that again some time! TFL x

Photo Love March

2011-06-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm behind in the world of scrapbooking. So this a page from my April document 2011 using the March 4x6 Photo Love Class.

I'm going to cut it up the right hand column so that it fits in the 6x4 page protector. I'm home all day so I may go and scrap some more...

hope you've had a good weekend bloggers!

Sketch love

2011-06-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't scrapbooked in months and when I have done any in ages the only way I can start is if I use a sketch...so thankfully Shimelle's blog has sketch of the week inspiration for such a time as this!

I ordered some Cosmo Cricket Social Club from papermaze and had a nice little scrappy time this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to do some more later...

ellegeephotography

2011-05-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

My little sister is about to do A level photography...I'm so proud of her and I thought you might like to sneak a peak at some of the photos she's been taking, she bought my 350D off me and got herself a 50mm lens...

...this is my favourite one but if you click here it'll take you to some others!

Hipsta Flowers

2011-05-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's old news now but the hispta app is still one of my favourite iphone features! It's just lovely! And talking of lovely...look what I got...

2 bunches of flowers...this week had to have a silver lining somewhere!

tfl xxx

Scrapfactor - week 2

2011-04-25T03:36:00.000-07:00

The competition is in full swing over at ukscrappers you could go over and play along if you like...there are lots of prizes to be won!

Here is a sneak peek of my page that's in this weeks gallery...

And this one got me through last week...

Why not go and vote for your favourite...

week one

2011-04-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Scrap Factor gallery is up...here's a tiny little peek at my page...

...go take a look at the full version and vote for your favourite in the gallery!

scrapfactor

2011-04-15T12:50:00.001-07:00

Nervously I've come to tell you that I'm a contestant over at UKSCRAPPERS for the scrapfactor contest. I'm in team hybrid!

This was one of my audition pages.

I love hybrid...mainly because I have such a small space for stash storage it works well to have most elements ready to print rather than stored away.

Anyway, as I said...I'm nervous! And suddenly quite worried that my scrapping just isn't good enough to be in a competition. Nevermind, no turning back now and it'll be fun while it lasts!

This week was a colour challenge, challenging it was but also a great combo of colours...perfect for Spring. Speaking of Spring...where's it gone? The in-laws are coming to London tomorrow, I hope it's nice enough for a picnic.

Have a great weekend!

Love Hx

March Document 2011 in the making

2011-04-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest 6x4 style page for March Document 2011...I found these little pouches quite hard to work with but I think overlapping is the key rather than treating them as separate tiny LOs. This one was the most overlappy of all of the pages I've tried so far...in fact I just did a 12x12 LO and then sliced it up!

Are you doing Document 2011?

Spring

2011-04-08T02:48:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love the Spring!

Did all my meetings outside yesterday and it was lovely...I can't handle the full-on summer heat, I head for the shade and moan a lot. So spring is perfect for me Sun without too much burn, lovely!

Adam took this photo last week whole we were in Cornwall, don't you think Daffodils just sum up the season so well?!

Document 2011 - Feb

2011-03-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

February was a pretty challenging month overall, but it did include some really lovely moments too...

My main pages highlight my time at drinkshopdo and a lovely long walk along a great bit of Dorset coastline...

tfl x

Document 2011 - Jan

2011-03-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Having seen all the fabulous Document 2010 pages turn up in blogland last year I really wanted to create some of my own. I've always scrapped life as it comes, just chronologically scrapping the events of life since 2007, so all my scrapbook albums are annual. However I wanted to do this Document style to actually cut back a bit on my scrapping, I was scrapbooking so many pages of the same event and much as I love them 3 massive D-ring albums per year is just too much! So I've gone for this approach for 2011.

Here are my 2 event pages...

...staying in a gorgeous hotel called Shendish Manor and going out for dinner for my Mother-in-law's 50th birthday.

And here are the little details of my January...

I've managed to do February as well so sometime soon I'll get them posted on here!

Hope you're all well bloggers,

much love Hx

My February Highlights

2011-03-20T06:46:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of a quite exciting new app I've made a collage of highlights from last month...I must get round to actually scrapbooking them!

DrinkShopDo

2011-02-24T15:22:00.001-08:00

I just went to the most amazing place!

www.drinkshopdo.com

It's tucked away behind kings cross station and is totally worth a visit! Everything in there is for sale, you can even buy the cup they serve your tea in. We played scrabble, ate cake and you can even knit!

2010

2011-01-03T01:52:00.000-08:00

I have had so little time to blog, I haven't even read blogs! I haven't scrapbooked for months and I'm getting withdrawl symptoms! Sorry I've been away, I've been starting a new job...it's been daunting and scary and exciting and I miss my boss who I've taken over from a lot! But anyhow when it comes to the end of December I love to look back over the year and have enjoyed reading everyone elses too, so here's my 2010...

JANUARY

Started with snowy walks and wintery weather, went to IKEA, saw my family and enjoyed a cold day out at Kew Gardens

FEBRUARY

Was a fabulous month, including my birthday, treat to see Strictly Come Dancing on tour, over night stay in Brighton, a lovely valentines day, a half term trip to Dorset and Adam enjoying pancake day with my littlest sister. We spent a long weekend in Devon with Adam's family.

MARCH

A less fabulous month trying to take hormone regulating drugs that made me feel so so yuck. But we did have an amazing day at work, this is my amazing boss singing 'A whole new world' on Disney Singstar...I mean singing in the loosest sense of the word.

APRIL

Back to my old self and had a great Easter in Dorset, Adam's Grandparents came to stay and we took them to our favourite place in London, Golders Hill Park. We went to a wedding a beautiful location, visited an animal sanctuary and went on a date in Southend, met up with my mum and sisters in Winchester and took my kids club on a great weekend away.

MAY

Went to Madame Tausards with some very good friends for Bank Holiday, Adam was on TV on a programme called hospital heroes. We went to Centerparcs with my Mum, Dad and Sisters and had a truly wonderful weekend.

JUNE

I spent a week in hospital having an emergency cystectomy...not fun. Adam's sister got married...very fun. Went for a picnic, met up with childhood friends and had a lovely evening celebrating Grannie's 80th birthday.

JULY

We moved flat with the help of some wonderful friends, we went to many BBC recordings courtesy of some of those same great friends, my brother and his wife came over from America and had a wedding ceremony this side of the pond and our friend had a baby, called Isaac.

AUGUST

I went to hospital, again. It was long, painful and extremely tedious. Adam turned 25. And on the 31st August we flew to Dublin to spend 3 relaxing days in the countryside, recovering from the summer.

SEPTEMBER

We enjoyed the last day of sun in London town. Went to the butterfly house with my family and I gained 3 new colleagues at long last!

OCTOBER

I went on a fantastic team building retreat with my boss and colleagues. Adam's grandparents came to stay, we took them to Kew Gardens and on a Thames River cruise. We went to Devon and Cornwall with Adam's mum and her husband. I took Lydia to see Billy Eliot in Victoria.

NOVEMBER

I had another operation, spent a few weeks in bed. At the end of the month we went for a blissful, relaxing, snowy spa day. Lush.

DECEMBER

Lots more snow, lots of work, lots of Christmas based activities. I cooked my first Christmas dinner and we shared with wonderful friends.

2010 felt quick. Very quick.

Happy New Year blogland x

a scrappy kind of day...

2010-10-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a LO in months! I can't believe it's the 18th October...where has this term gone, last week before half term...how?! Anyway, today I have the day off it's nearly 5pm and I'm still in my pjs, all I've eaten is chocolate mints and piece of marmite toast and all I've done is watch iplayer and scrapbook. I'm content. So here is the productivity of my day...

Back to scrapping

2010-10-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

So how have you been? I've missed the scrapping world for the last few months. A friend of mine asked me to scrap her sisters wedding with all the bits she'd kept over the day. I bought an ikea box frame and sprinkled confetti in the bottom, then made a simple page with a photo and bits of the order of service and pieces from the flower girls wands. My friend was happy and so was I considering how long it's been since I scrapped! Hope you're well, thanks for stopping by, hx

My Wedding Story (the shortish version) !!

2010-08-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

What with Shimelle's week of wedding blog posts I felt inspired to share a few of the details from my wedding day! Sorry the photos aren't so professional looking because I don't have the photographers copies on this laptop but the story it was matters...here goes...

This is me and him on the BEST day of our lives. It was completely fabulous! I couldn't wait to be married to Mr Adam Feery so we set the time for the service as 11am! Never have I been to an earlier wedding...but I was ready at 10.20am and desperate to get there! Trouble was my parents house is less than 2 minutes from Church so I had a looong wait!

It was a very countryish kind of day, everything was made out of brown paper and copious amounts of rafia string, with lavender and saltdough hearts adorning everything in sight! This was the flower of choice, a 'blue moon' coloured rose, my bouquet was full of them as well as some white ones, some darker purple ones and of course some lavender!

About now I should tell you the story of my dress. This was my original gown of dreams, I wanted lots of flowery detail around one hip so this one fitted the plan nicely...

My lovely lovely dad ordered it and 5 weeks before my wedding it arrived and I went for my first fitting. Now I'd ordered this dress in white. The shop owner tried to talk me out of it, she said no one ever wears white these days and that it hardly suits anyone. But I wanted white. Proper white. Because a) white does suit me and creamy colours really don't and b) I had managed, with all the world's pressures and temptations, to arrive at my wedding day a virgin bride and being the traditional kind of girl I am I felt it was my right to wear white! With this in mind you can imagine my deep disappointment when what greeted me in the fitting room was in fact a grey/silver dress. I put it on. With tears in my eyes I walked to the front of the shop to look in the mirror. And I cried. They'd ordered the wrong dress and there was no way I was going to get it in white in time for the big day.

So Benjamin Roberts was called (not personally but you know) and we found out which dresses I could have in white in 5 weeks and discovered I could choose from about 3. So I put them all on and I chose this one...

My mum had always imagined me in lacy sleeves and it still swooped to the hip. The lace detail under the bust and the big train were beautiful and fitted perfectly. And it was white. The owner of the store set about making a selection of pretty white roses in matching fabric and filled my swooshy hip bit until I was a happy girl. And a very happy girl I was. It was gorgeous and I loved the finished product far more than the first choice anyway! Here you can see me walking down the aisle giggling away with my oh so proud Dad and the pretty pretty roses round my hip.

The service was wonderful, the Church looked pretty and we were an extremely happy newly married couple!

The next big story of the day was the horse and carriage! As you can see from my face I was not expecting it...

It was a surprise arranged by my Grandma and it was amazing! It was so much fun to be waved off feeling like a real princess!

Getting married so early (and having so many children at our reception) meant we had a big BBQ lunch instead of meal/evening dancing style thing. This was the table plan in keeping with the countryside theme...

Another funny story from the day included the battle of the wedding cakes! Adam's Grandparents were very keen to provide our wedding cake so they got us to choose what we wanted and had it specially made...we served it as dessert and it was DELICIOUS!

A month or so later it became very clear that my Grandparents also wanted to provide us with a cake! And a more traditional one at that! So I asked her to make it small and we could have it with relatives at the end of the day. Alas Grandma had other ideas and it ended up being a towering a white wedding cake with a stand for each tier!

I'm actually really pleased the cake situation worked out as it did, it was fun cutting cakes! All was going well until the groom got knocked off...

And lost an ear!! Oh well!

It was the BESTEST ever day of my whole entire life. For sure. And next weekend we will have been married for 2 years! Happy Anniversary Adam, you mean the world to me, I love you with all my heart and enjoy sharing my life with you so incredibly much. You are literally my other half.

So I hope you liked my little wedding run through! I'm sorry it ended up being a little longer than planned, well done if you've made it all the way to the end!!

Hope you have a good day! x

Mini album

2010-08-17T12:48:00.001-07:00

A little left overs mini album. I had 2 sheets of American Crafts patterned paper left, to be honest I can't even remember the name of the range but it was sweet with little flowers and butterflies doodled on. So I cut up some squares of cardboard, printed out some mini photos and voilà a mini album! It only took about 30 mins! Much quicker than a LO!

Hope you had a good day!

Tfl x

Shimelle's online crop - Photography Entries

2010-08-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

Really enjoyed taking random piccies today, some on my phone, some on my hubby's DSLR...

Through the glass (travelling through the New Forest on a train):

Below the knee (my 7yr old sister painted my toe nails!):

Up above (sky from my parents garden):

Nature (sister's sunflower, it's hugeee!):

Candid:

Get in the picture (courtesy of photobooth):

Get close (Cherry Tree Woods):

Night Light:

At home:

I saw the sign:

Craft in progress:

Zoom out (easier said than done on a 50mm prime!):

That's me done! I'm so tired, that was one craftastic day!

bye for now :) xxx

Shimelle's online crop - Scrapbooking Entries

2010-08-16T10:41:00.001-07:00

I had such a fun scrappy snappy Monday as planned! Shimelle's Online Crop was soooo inspiring and soooo fun! Here are my creations...

The 2nd Sketch:

Quadrants:

Squares:

One paper range:

Circles:

The 3rd Sketch:

I would have loved to do more but just ran out of time :( will carry on tomorrow anyway! Hope you all had a great weekend whatever you got up to!

Wedding Photos!

2010-08-14T01:38:00.001-07:00

Here you are Mel, some sneaky peaks of the photos from my bro's wedding...

I'm excited about this!

2010-08-14T00:19:00.001-07:00

I'm at my parents right now, so there's no scrapbooking stash here! But not to worry because the lovely Shimelle has given us until 6am on Tuesday to complete the challenges...so Monday is going to be one scrappy, snappy day! woop woop! Are you playing along?

bye for now!

Oh scrapbooking how I've missed you!

2010-08-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

Well blogland I've missed you too, I've been doing things like moving flat, taking another trip to hospital, going to my brothers wedding, going to my friends wedding, visiting family, caravanning...you know those little things in life! Settling back into normality now though and today I actually scrapbooked so here is my favorite page! I had so much fun, it was great to make a mess, look at photos, remember special moments and write down my memories...it's safe to say I've missed it!

Well thanks for looking and I'll hopefully be back soon!

Byeee x

A little bit of scrap to brighten the day

2010-07-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Had the day off yesterday which was lovely because Sunday was such hard work! My boss is on paternity leave, so there's lots to do! I'd been admiring Leanne's gorgeous pages over on her blog and had to have a go scraplifting one...mine looks rather different now but all the inspiration is thanks to her! This is Leanne's page.

And this is my page...

I did a similar grid background with 3 pieces of patterned paper and like the slanted picture and journalling. This photo was taken of Grannie's 80th birthday, she looked so happy and twinkly all evening!

This is the rest of the gang...

I saw on SJs blog the 12x8 photo on a LO idea- her page is beautiful...just had to be done with this photo of our meal, maybe one day I'll be able to scrap as well as SJ but I'm quite pleased with this first attempt...as usual my in-laws are messing about but it shows everyone having fun!

In other news: We put the deposit down on a new flat today...yipeeee! God is so good, we'd prayed for a new flat that would be just right for ages and we got one...it even has a fireplace! yay! I'll show you some pictures on moving day...think the living room may need some bunting...I'm off to investigate!

bye for now! x

Sarah's Cards Sketch

2010-07-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

I loved the sketch over on the Sarah's Cards blog this time...here is my try. I reeeeally like these papers from Crate!

tfl x

Neeeeed to scrap!

2010-07-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Grannie - in- law has just turned 80! We had a lovely meal together and I can't wait to scrap the photos! Feel like I haven't scrapped for ages!

Shimelle-lift

2010-06-28T01:20:00.001-07:00

There is the most beautiful LO created by Shimelle in the latest edition of the Scrapbook Inspirations Ideas Book. It's probably the prettiest page I've ever seen so I was very keen to try and do something similar myself!

You can just see Shimelle's version there in the very bottom right hand corner. It has a big beautiful photo, a lush colour scheme and some gorgeous ribbon. My Sis-in-law recently got married and my hubby was the photographer so I used my most favourite photo from the wedding shoot and scrapped until I had something pretty to show for it!

Hope you have a lovely day :)

deLOVELY

2010-06-26T10:29:00.001-07:00

Some lovely things and some lovely paper!

First of all the lovely things...
This is a photo of me and my best friends from the teenage years...my friendship with these ladies totally impacted who I am today and I love them both lots...we hadn't all been together for 18 months but they came to visit me in Londres and we had a lovely day catching up, reminiscing, laughing, eating and enjoying the sunshine. The title reads 10 things I love about you two! And I made it using my last few bits of butterfly foil paper from American Crafts.

This page says 'I think you would do anything for me' and has 3 little photos of Adam painting my toe nails when I came out of hospital. (FYI, he did a good job!) He's done a lot for me recently, he's amazing.

One of the most recent lovely things he's done is pack up a picnic, my favourite yellow gingham rug, some bunting, some flowers and taken me to Golders Hill Park for the evening. Massively cheered me up!

Now on to the lovely paper...
The new delovely range is bright, cheerful and girly...a good combination if you ask me! I did this page about the delights of facebook and skype and how it helps me keep in contact with my sisters.

And this page is about the fun in the sun we had last time we were at my parent's house...

I made all these pages today...what have you been up to?!

tfl :)

i had a haircut!

2010-06-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Drama, drama, drama

2010-06-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago I went off to hospital and ended up having emergency surgery to save my ovary...I'm now resting for 3-4 weeks, which is incredibly boring but means I've done lots of scrapping.

Do you wanna see?!

Here it is...well some of it...

tfl :)

Portland through the lense of a retro camera

2010-06-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

I've done lots of scrapbooking today but this is the page I'm most pleased with. Thought I'd jump on the bunting band wagon and make some fabric bunting to go on top. This LO also features my first retro camera print! I love it, it's so cool, the effect is lovely! This photo is of the top of the beach road as you get on to Portland in Dorset, I love it there and was so excited to be back there for the week. I really do love the coast line, been back in London for two days and I'm already pining for it.

Anyway, thanks for looking x

hipstamatic... without an iphone!

2010-06-10T01:07:00.000-07:00

I don't have an iphone but I do have an android phone...my husband understands it better than me and I was complaining that it doesn't have cool apps like hipstamatic! So he took the phone off me and found me this retro camera app...which is sooo fab! I love it! This is what it can do...

PINHOLE: (fyi this is such a classic pose from my inlaws!)

LITTLE ORANGE BOX:

THE BARBL:

XOLAROID:

I'm looking forward to scrapping with these amazing little beauties! And today is a complete scrapping day...yay!
tfl :)

Two at a Time

2010-05-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

I've become a two at a time kind of scrapper. Recently I seem to be making just 2 LOs at a time and then packing everything away again. I'm seriously strapped for time at the mo, life is BUSY and I don't even have kids yet! My husband and I live in a studio, so we don't even have a bedroom let alone a craft room! I scrap out of a bulging underbed storage box and have to get it all out and pack it all away again every time I make anything...so it doesn't all seem worth it for one page but 2 pages seems to satisfy my creative juices! So without further a do, here are my latest 2 LOs...

Neither of them are my best work but both record my memories or 2 occasions so I'm happy, this one is of a little trip to Winchester last Bank Holiday with the in-laws, love the buttons and the fabric!

And this one features Adam's TV debut when he was on hospital heroes taking a patient into the Royal London!

Thank you for stopping by, hope you're having a good week! H :)

Tagged

2010-05-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

Mel has tagged me! So here are my answers...

1) What is your best icecream flavour?

yummmmmmm!!

2) What is your best month in the year and why?
December! love Christmas and spending time with my family!

3) What is the worst date you have ever been on?
I can't think of one! Have only ever dated one guy...who turned out to be my husband!

4) What is the most embarrassing song you secretly love?

Bob the builder, can he fix it...!

5) What is your favourite mode of transport?
The car! I like to drive it alone and sing loudly, or have the opportunity to travel with my husband and chat!

6) Which famous person would you love to meet?
Jesus! He's been famous for over 2000years...you can't get more famous than that!

7) What would you still love to learn to do?

I'd love to play the piano!

8) Who is your favourite baddie in a film?
I don't watch films with baddies! I can't handle them! Have to watch romcoms or disney or animations!!

9) Which actress would play you in the story of your life?

I think she's fab!

10) Which school subject should be abolished and why?
General Studies...it was the most pointless hour of my week at school!

Ok so there you go! Hope you liked learning a little more about me!

Thanks for stopping by!

New October Afternoon

2010-05-19T01:53:00.000-07:00

I love the new fly a kite range from October Afternoon, I've also used a bit of old nutmeg from cosmo and some woodgrain sticky back plastic *nice*

My mum actually took this picture...think it's the best picture she's ever taken!

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Have a good day x

I've misssed you...

2010-05-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't scrapbooked in over a month, but finally last night I whipped up this page with some lovely butterfly foil paper for American crafts! Such happy memories of this day so it needed something lovely and pink!
tfl x

Butterfly Crafts Blog

2010-05-14T01:11:00.000-07:00

Helloooo

Just wanted to let you know that Nikki Sivils is sponsoring the May challenge at Butterfly crafts and the prize is lush!

Why not have a go!?

In other news....

...I can't wait to scrapbook this photo!

tfl x

Hospital Heroes

2010-05-04T14:59:00.001-07:00

Ok so I know this is not craft related at all...although these pictures will definitely make it on to a LO sometime soon...but look my husband is on TV!!! What a handsome paramedic he is!! It's a program called Hospital Heroes and it's been filmed at the Royal London hospital! Today he was in the "coming up" section because he will be in tomorrow's episode! I am one VERY proud wife! tfl :)

butterflycrafts may challenge

2010-05-02T07:09:00.001-07:00

here's my may offering for the butterfly crafts blog...take a look!

two quick LOs

2010-05-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

I made these 2 pages in uber quick time, nothing complicated or fancy just 2 special things to record.

This one is of our lovely friends who live down south, we were blessed to meet up with them just 4 days after their baby was born!

And this is my special friend Vina who lives abroad so taking a photo of her while on skype seemed like a scrap-worthy thing to do!

Can't believe it's May already! Where is 2010 going?

the lauralift

2010-04-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm weeks behind on anything scrap related. Shimelle had a blog party a few weekends ago, I was working so couldn't really take part, but I loved this page by Laura and joined in the lauralift, just a few weeks late!

Everyone with an iphone is obsessed with the special camera app, but I don't have an iphone so I had to rely on the antique function in iphoto and then use the poladroid programme to get a special effect!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great 3 day weekend!

H :o)

busy busy busy

2010-04-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've been soooo busy recently...too much to do, not enough time to do it! You know the feeling.
Haven't scrapped for ages but just wanted to share this page with you, made it a while ago but haven't shown you yet!
I love this photo of us, it completely sums up what we love! I've come to enjoy the benefits of living in London but we'll always be country bumpkins at heart!

Taken from a sketch on scrapbookinspirations website (thanks guys) x

The famous animal sanctuary

2010-04-15T04:40:00.000-07:00

My Mum, Dad and sisters spend so much time here! We had never been and wanted to know what all the fuss was about so they took us last weekend. I can see why they like it so much, it was really fun! Dad spoke "sheep" and "cow" we met a sheep who thought he was a dog and fed lots of ponies.

LOTS of photos on one LO but wanted to get the all on the page so just a little embellishment dotted around.
Hope you're having a good day! x

000000 Easter Holidays 000000

2010-04-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

We went down to Poole for the weekend, firstly for this wedding...

...which was beautiful, in a stunning setting in a countryside Church with a river running alongside it. The weather was AMAZING! Such a lovely start to our weekend. In the evening, before the reception started we hung out with my sister-in-law and her fiance in Jefferson their camper. Adam got to drive it down the lane! Not quite the fluorescent yellow auto ambulances he used to! I love these pictures though and if you look carefully you can see the sunset reflecting on the side of the camper, totally accidental but lovely all the same.

We also spent time with some friends who've just had their second baby. Adam is extremely broody at the moment, so I had to scrap this little phase!

It was great to get to see my family too! Lots of quick trips to the park in between seeing friends and doing wedding planning...

Lots more scrapping to follow soon!
Hope you're enjoying the weather!
tfl :)

Photography Exhibition

2010-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I thought I'd treat Adam to a day out at the Natural History Museum because the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition is there. He had a wonderful time looking at all the winners...he looked at everything in great detail...he was in there for nearly 2 hours...I was bored. But hey, he had a great time!

You're not allowed to take photos in there but I sneaked this one, technically it's not taking photos of the photos so I think it's ok, it just looked arty and I wanted some scrapping material.

Then we went to the Earth Hall and went up an escalator inside the model of the globe...pretty cool huh!

Hope you had a great bank holiday! :)

April Visual Challenge

2010-04-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

Um, can anyone tell mw what happened to the beginning of 2010, it appears to April.
This is my LO for the Butterfly Crafts blog this month.

You can have a look at the other entries here

Hope you're enjoying the long weekend!

SO much scrapping

2010-03-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

I've been ill for 10 days and spent lots of time in bed or on the sofa and I've scrapped so much! There have to be perks right?! Here are my latest 3 pages, I have no more recent photos to scrap, I'm completely up to date! Thankfully I'm going to a wedding on Saturday which will provide some new material!

This photo was taken outside the National Gallery of me and my sister, my other sister refused to be in the picture but that's ok cos it allowed me to focus just on Lydia and how great she is. I'm taking Shimelle's latest stash busting class, so in keeping with that I used a whole packet of paper flowers on this LO!

This LO is super simple, probably a bit too simple for my liking, how did I manage a page with no patterned paper?! It was a fun evening though so it was worth documenting!

And finally a selection of tiny photos from our family trip to Devon with my in-laws. This was my favourite morning of the whole weekend so it was good to get it down on paper.

Hope you're having a good week, nearly Easter Weekend, woohoo!

tfl :)

Spiral Flowers

2010-03-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

I saw this post on Laura's blog...and I've always wondered how to make something like these! So I followed her instructions and it was really easy in the end. I just pressed down the edges slightly to show the other side of the patterned paper.

Here's the whole LO...

Hope you're having a good weekend!
H :o)

something a bit different

2010-03-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do something a bit different with my favourite paper range from cosmo.
I made a tree and hung my photos and journalling from the branches.
I quite like it!

Hope you're having a good day :)

{something from almost nothing}

2010-03-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Doing this fab stash busting class over at shimelle.com and I've used the prompts to make some LOs. The first one was to use up some metals:

I used the idea of making a border with brads.

Prompt 2 was to use some ribbon, of the scrunchy variety

And finally a LO using up lots of patterned paper

a good bit of stash busting me thinks!
tfl :)

www.ajfeery.com

2010-03-06T08:22:00.001-08:00

Some recent images from my ridiculously talented husband!

All available to buy from www.ajfeery.com

tfl x

miniminibook

2010-03-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't made a mini book for a while. But this was easy and fun! It really is a mini book, only 3x3in so not many materials needed, just a few brads and a bit of ribbon really and it was finished!

Devon

2010-03-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

We've been away for the weekend...

...lots of fun running down sand dunes, going to the sea and eating good food with nice people.

Did you have a good weekend?

_-Lydia's Climb-_

2010-03-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

Another LO from our trip to Moors Valley! This is my very first piece of Design Team work over at Butterfly Crafts. It was great fun, you could enter and win goodies from scrapagogo.

Sarah's Cards Challenge

2010-02-23T14:08:00.001-08:00

This was the sketch over at Sarah's Cards this month...

Mine is quite a bit busier than the sketch suggests but the stash was so pretty I just wanted more of it on the page.

...you get the gist, pink, butterflies, girls, pearls...lots of prettiness to help me remember this lovely day with my sisters!
I really enjoyed using this sketch! Sarah's Cards is so great! I've used nearly all the stash I bought on the website recently, gonna have to shop again soon!
Hope you're having a good week, thanks for looking! Hx

butterflycrafts

2010-02-20T06:50:00.001-08:00

Well... as you can see from the lovely little butterfly on the right of the page...Karen asked me to be on the Design Team for this spring...I'm excited! Thank you very much! She did spell my name wrong but I'll forgive her, it's very easy to do!

i dislike night shifts

2010-02-19T05:19:00.000-08:00

I really don't like it when Adam works nights. But at the same time, I can make a lot of scrappy mess without feeling bad about it, so there are bonuses!

Last weekend my family came to London and stayed the night in a travel lodge which they've not done before...it was great, they came to our Church and we all went into London and visited the science museum and me and my middle sister went to see HAIRSPRAY...which was literally a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Anyway, my birthday and my mum's birthday are a week apart so she bought cake and we had a little singsong with candles. It was yummy, you can't beat homemade cake. LO made using some new cosmo cricket Garden Variety papers and a selection of thickers.

Then on to Valentine's Day, well actually the day after because we were both working on the 14th! I woke up to this LOVELY suprise, seriously scrummy breakfast and flowers and chocolate. I made the LO out of petals!! It's probably a bit much but I like it, sorry you can't see the white cardstock in the photo! And look at those flocked Laura Ashley rubons, lush!

And last but not least we went to Poole to see the family earlier this week and we had a great time at a local forest country park. There are lots of great photos ready fro scrapping but this one I love. My sisters are great, but sometimes they get on each other's nerves...actually it's probably more the littlest one but hey!! But there are so many photos from this day where they're cuddling and holding hands, they do love each other really. Also made with the new cosmo and digi kit goodness from Shimelle.

I think I may do more scrapbooking tomorrow...you can tell it's half term!!! Then you're not gonna see me til the Easter Hols!! Anyway, hope you have a great weekend!

xxx

an old, new scrappy friend!

2010-02-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Today I drove north of the M25 and visited an old friend who's new to scrapbooking! I introduced her to back copies of scrapbook inspirations and she made her very first page! We caught up on old times, ate soup, watched friends and aaaahed over my new Dear Lizzy!

Due to the talking, dvs and eating I only made 1 LO...outrageous!!! But here it is...

There are lots of lovely layers and I'm still loving the coloured woodgrain patterned paper...sadly my supplies are coming to an end! I bought some of the new Cosmo Cricket woodgrain chipboard alphas...I like them. I like them a lot.

Hope you've had a lovely day too.

Take care

H :)

happiness scrappiness

2010-02-14T10:54:00.001-08:00

I made this LO this afternoon...I am almost fell asleep but decided to be crafty instead! I don't usually make pages with so much journalling. In fact I think this is the most journalling I've ever put on a page. It reads...

Adam nearly got stabbed the other day, and he didn't have his stab vest on. As it was there ended up being no dangerous weapon involved but he didn't know that, so the fear level was pretty high. He was falsely imprisoned by a patient who'd already assaulted his crew mate (he was fine and went off to call the police) and then was freed but then was pinned up in the ambulance which is when he thought he was going to be stabbed, the guy rummaged about in his pocket but then he actually just pretended to stab him, with a haribo sweet (mildly amusing looking back on it...he was stabbed with a gummy bear!) Needless to say Adam is now ridiculously laid back and I've been totally emotional about the whole thing. Can't get a good balance between being really worried every time he leaves the flat and thinking I'm going to be a widow and then go to other extreme of oh he'll be fine nothing bad will ever happen to him. Need to get healthy perspective somehow. One thing is for sure.
I love him so much. I’m so blessed to be married to such an amazing person. He’s my best friend.

I've never scrapped like this before, written about something on a page I mean. I always scrap days out, fun times and big events. But I loved this photo since it was taken in America last year, and have wanted to use it for ages and it just seemed to fit this experience quite well.

The paper is so yummy, it's from crate paper. And the frames are from fontwerks.

So I hope you like it, here are some details...

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you've had a good weekend! x

The oh so talented SJ

2010-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

There's a party going on at Little Musings

SJ's giving lots of things away...how kind!

I hope to be back later with a little scrappiness...but I'm not making any promises, I may fall asleep!!

tfl:)

scrappy day

2010-02-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

PJs, friends, chocolate, scrapping, husband at home. I've had a good day off. And these are the things I made...

I don't think I've ever made a LO quite like this before...photos are usually the main focus of my pages, but these photos were taken on a bad mobile phone camera. Despite their naff quality I still wanted to scrap them because there's a story to tell. This page will be having printed journalling in keeping with the "i-never-do-layouts-like-this" style.

An overview of our recent day out at Kew Gardens.

Hope you like them :)

My Birthday!

2010-02-04T12:35:00.001-08:00

It was my birthday yesterday!
This is me on my birthday at the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour at Wembley Arena! Woop woop! It was sooooo cool!
Adam made my birthday so special, we went to Pizza Express for lunch and then got the tube to Wembley after work for this...

It lent itself very well to this colour scheme and I got to use a little chandelier rub on and fabric thickers (my fave!)

tfl x

< Sarah's Cards January Challenge >

2010-02-04T12:19:00.001-08:00

Here is my entry for last month's sketch challenge from the Sarah's Cards blog.
The LO is from photos taken at our recent staff weekend away. Me and my friend Siming ended up wearing almost exactly the same outfit one day! We both have green tops from Dorothy Perkins and little black cardis from H&M. We looked really funny together so her husband took a photo of us! This is the first time she's appeared in one of my scrapbooks which is crazy considering how long we've been friends...I'm glad I've finally got a good photo of her to scrap!
Speaking of Sarah's cards, I can't wait for some of the CHA releases to be on sale...how yummy does that Dear Lizzy look?!

winter day out ~ without snow!

2010-01-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

a day in kew gardens...happy scrapping for me coming soon!

This is why I scrapbook

2010-01-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

Shimelle's been asking us all a question...Why do you scrapbook?

Well...

*I love it, it so great to spend time being creative.
*My husband takes photographs that are too beautiful to be left on a computer.
*For the memories. I don't want to forget the good things in life.
*To celebrate family. I'm blessed with an amazing family, I want to celebrate that in a society that places little value on family.
*I have a bad memory. If I didn't have photos and write journalling, I'd forget too much.

These are my top 5... I think I'll have to make them into a LO, lots of people have been making them into minis which is cool but I think for me, a LO will be just fine.

Frame Scrapping

2010-01-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

I was asked to make an anniversary present by a friend this week. She had found an old record of the song they had to walk out of the Church to. So I scrapped on top of the record leaving the centre piece and the top part on show and adding photos and embellishments around the edge. They had kept the Cake topper and Order of service so it was great to use things that had featured in their day.

And that's the finished product in a nice big frame from IKEA! Good old IKEA.

tfl :)

Welcome 2010!!

2010-01-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

This is the first page in my new album. When I saw this LO I knew I wanted to do a cheeky scraplift, it's such a great page. Mine is a paper version because I'm no good at digi, but still I'm happy with it.

tfl :)

* Sarah's Cards December Challenge Entry *

2010-01-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

Using the sketch at the Sarah's Cards blog, I made my 8.5/11 version with a bit of swiss dot and some cosmo cricket. I kept the size and positioning of the photos the same and placed the title in the same area but I used some swirly rub-ons as my interpretation of the circular aspects of the sketch. This is the first time I've tried scrapping in this size, it took me a little while to get used to the smaller amount of space but eventually I rather enjoyed it. Thanks for the inspiration Sarah's Cards!

{a few more of the last 09 pages}

2010-01-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Just click on the images to make them a little bigger!

THe first is a page I actually did months ago but never posted :-o it's nice to have my Grandparents on a LO, they don't feature in my albums much which is sad really.

The second page is based on a Shimelle sketch, also from a while ago but I really liked it. Thanks Lydia for letting me use your sewing machine!

And the last page took forever with all the loops of Making Memories ribbon, but it was worth it 'cause I rather like the finished product!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2010-01-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

I love snow so much, I love how it makes everything quiet and beautiful. Yesterday Adam had the day off and we decided to make the most of it! I had to buy some new wellies, all my other shoes were resulting in me getting very wet feet after 2 minutes, no fun.

I love this picture! The snow was deeper than this but we got to the park at about 3pm and 2 days worth of walking and sledging had packed it down a bit, but still I managed to fall over twice!

Me and my love in the snow.

Snow clouds at sunset, fairly stunning I think you'll agree.

Now to scrap these pictures! I'm going to use Shimelle's template and do a page for Sarah's Cards monthly challenge, you never know, I might post them later!

Have a great day, take care in the ice!

2009 year page

2010-01-03T05:49:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry about the naff quality of the photo. This our year. Can't believe how quickly it's gone by! So...

Jan} The Grant's came to visit.

Feb} It snowed a lot. It was also my birthday.

Mar} Sara and Paul got married in Evershot and we holidayed at Centerparcs.

April} We played tourists in London, seeing as we now are Londoners we felt we should go visit the famous places! Adam also started his new job.

May} The Grant's came up for a trip to the zoo and late b'day cake for MH.

June} Jess and Sara came to visit and we went to see the Lion King. WOW. And we went Weymouth for the weekend for a wedding and popped into Bagwell Farm to see the Grants.

July} Visited Isaac in Oxford. I went to a very wet New Wine and looked after the Ireton girls.

Aug} The last time our family were together before Isaac emigrated. I had an operation. Esther came to stay. Adam and I went away to the New Forest in M&Ds caravan for the bank hol wkend.

Sept} Our 1st anniversary.

Oct} Isaac and Rachel's wedding in the US and our family trip to Canada.

Nov} My favourite day of the year when Adam and I went for an autumn walk along Regent's Canal and played in the leaves at Regent's Park.

Dec} The fastest month of the year. Loads of coooool stuff at work, Christmas celebrated early with family. Our late fireworks party with the Grant's.

Done.

Thank you God for all the blessings you gave us over the last year. Please reveal your precious plans for this year to us. Amen.

Hello 2010.